Extract lifts uranium reserves at Husab

Extract Resources
, owner of the huge Husab uranium deposit in Namibia, has announced a 37 per cent increase in estimated reserves at the venture, increasing the attractiveness of the project planned at the site.

Ore held within the deposit is now put at 280 million tonnes, equating to a mine life of more than 20 years based on processing of 15 million tonnes per year of ore, Extract said in a statement on Wednesday.

The estimate of total contained uranium in the deposit has increased by 42 per cent since the last reserve estimate in April to 319.9 million pounds of uranium oxide.

Extract chief executive Jonathan Leslie said he is confident Husab “will become a nationally and globally significant long-life mine" and pointed to further opportunities to increase the reserve base.

Extract is still working out the best way of developing the Husab resource and has been in talks about a joint development with Rio Tinto’s neighbouring Rossing mine, which would substantially cut costs.

China Guangdong Nuclear Power has also shown an interest in participating, making a proposed £756 million ($1.2 billion) takeover bid earlier this year for Extract’s biggest shareholder, Kalahari Minerals. It later dropped the proposal after the UK takeovers regulator prevented it from cutting the price of the mooted bid on the back of the worldwide slump in uranium equities due to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, but several analysts still expect it to come back with another offer.